While I enjoyed the plot and theme of the book a lot, the writing/editing need a lot of work. There was a lot of clunkiness and disjointed scenes that left me flipping back to see if I'd missed something.

Magical realism is one of my favourite themes to explore in a story so when I saw this book, I had to give it a go. The complex relationships in this story really help build a good foundation to find yourself invested in. I will say I found the pacing to be a little all over the place and I would’ve liked to of seen a little more personal growth between the family dynamics a little more as I thought we could’ve delved even deeper!

Three generations of Tawainese/American women hurting each other unintentionally with their expectations. Until Leeann starts to glow and all three must work together to find out the cause of numerous accidents in a small town. Romance was an added bonus.

Anything with strong and complex female lead characters is my kryptonite. Add some magic and it’s even better!

Meh. This book annoyed me because I wanted it to be so much better then it was. 😕 As a perimenopausal woman who loves magical realism I had such high hopes for this and it just fell flat. The first half is simply a constant repetition of "oh god I'm glowing" "oh god I should have known" (never do we find out what she should have known), "oh he's too young for me", etc. Like seriously, the entire first half of this book could be condensed to one chapter without losing a single thing. 😭 Absolutely nothing happens. And by the second half there's some plot development but it's all over the place and never really reaches a satisfying conclusion.

So much potential here but in execution a total fail. 😢

I enjoyed this novel which I was given as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Enjoyed it but didn’t LOVE it is honestly the vibe. I liked the complex family dynamics and hints of a mystery filled with magic. It just never became fully developed for me. I feel this book sort of straddled a fantasy genre but never developed it fully which is what I wanted.
It was a good story and I did enjoy it-it perhaps just wasn’t what I expected.

This book has such a great premise and I love the way the author planned this story, like a onion being sliced slowly. I enjoyed this book but it took a little long to really get going. I have to note that I really enjoyed how Mindy Hung made me feel like I knew the characters in real life. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me give my honest feedback.

Sweet and fun, THE GLOWING LIFE OF LEEANN WU is a fast, enjoyable read. Come for the glowing hands, stay for the exploration of the blind spots in cultural knowledge immigration can cause.

I would ultimately rate this book 3.5 stars - rounded up to 4 because I’d lean more that direction as opposed to a straight 3.

We follow along, getting to know Leanne, a midwife in her early forties, while she gets to know herself. We watch her grow in her confidence, fall in love, and … glow. Literally.

I really liked Leanne, even though at times I found her immature and frustrating I found her character to be very relatable.

I did feel like this book felt like three different directions for lack of better description - we have Leanne discovering herself & her power (the glowing and her romantic life), we have the magic of the dead visiting, and then the history of her ancestors bringing together Ma, Lulu, & herself. I think for me, a deeper dive on the visitors would have been interesting. Why if they visited in your dreams would they not want to you sleep?

The message that I ultimately took away was that, there is magic in everyone - you just have to allow yourself to shine.

*The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu* by Mindy Hung is a smart, sharp, and refreshingly original read. Leeann is a character you root for—flawed, funny, and full of depth. Hung’s writing is both witty and heartfelt, exploring identity, ambition, and reinvention with style and honesty. It’s one of those books that sticks with you in the best way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ebook ARC. The Glowing Life of Leann Wu is about a 40 year old midwife who lives with her teenage daughter while working, navigating a sometimes-difficult relationship with her mother, and has started dating a younger man. The book has many different themes-mother-daughter relationships, multi-generational relationships, navigating menopause and social situations, magical realism, etc. Despite the wide net cast, Hung managed to write realistic characters that felt extremely real and spoke to each other with believable dialogue. This is particularly impressive considering one of the characters was a teenage girl-so often they can be portrayed savage little beasts or sickeningly sweet, but rarely just the right mix of both. Somehow Hung got every female character to feel like an actual person. Her male characters were very well-written too, but something about Kenji's feelings for Luann felt a little bit quick to me.

The pacing of the plot itself was good right up until the end, when the conclusion felt rushed. I would have liked to read more about Luann's mother's story as it was referenced a time or two. Overall I enjoyed the book very much.

Hmm wanted to love this……. Didn’t quite grab me. The writing style was light and I prefer more detailed world building and character building. I just didn’t engage with the characters. Perhaps personal preference. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu by Mindy Hung is a speculative novel about three generations of Taiwanese-Canadian women who unexplainably begin to glow, setting them off on a path of healing and awakening.

Leeann Wu is in her early forties and a midwife who begins experiencing a strange glow in her hands that allows her to heal her patients. The glow couldn't happen at a more strange time for her., as she begins perimenopause, her daughter leaves for university, and she starts a relationship with a younger man. When an epidemic of insomnia begins affecting her town, leading to bizarre accidents, Leeann is reminded of her ancestors' secretive past with eerily similar events taking place. Through mending the relationship with her mother and daughter, Leeann discovers that her glow is not something to be afraid of, but is a gift, that will help her to embrace her power.

This book was an interesting metaphor for the change of life. Leeann's mysterious glowing hands offered much reflection and thought about what perimenopause can actually do. We see Leeann begin to take more risks and try new things as the glow starts to occur. The glow is an analogy for the special aura and effervescence that happens to women when they are in biological transitional phases. It was really great to read a book about this topic from the perspective of magic, as the body truly is mystical as is the evolution of a woman's energy throughout her life. I can imagine the 40s are a special time in a woman's life as she is approaching middle age, with looming questions about what one still needs to accomplish and what is unachievable. Leeann grapples with a lot of self-doubt and self-consciousness in the story as she feels judged by her family for choosing to make her own decisions about what she wants from life. When the glow begins helping her to heal her patients, it gives her a greater purpose during a time when she is starting to explore her freedom and independence.

With all of that being said, the ancestral part of the story fell flat for me. The connection between Leeann's glow and her ancestor needed to be stronger as it wasn't integrated enough into the story. A more mysterious or magical explanation would have made the story stronger in my opinion. I also thought the ending was anticlimactic. I think if this book was written from multiple points of view, it would have strengthened the ancestral elements and generational magic.

Overall The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu is a unique speculative story about feminine power and its special magic.

I have a lot of love for The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu— it’s a well-written novel following the dynamics and unearthed history of three generations of Taiwanese-American women (Leeann, her mother, and daughter) living in a small town in Ontario. Our main protagonist is funny, resilient, self-assured, and finds herself in a new season of life as her daughter is leaving for college and she opens herself to a new relationship. But when a mysterious glow develops in her hands— and other strange weather and phenomena occur in their town— she investigates her heritage and magic and begins to find a larger purpose for herself.

Overall, this novel is funny, emotional, and mysterious. The unconventional family dynamics can be difficult yet heartwarming to watch unfold, as each generation communicates their love in vastly different ways. As much as I enjoyed this novel, I will say that it felt confusing: even at 75%, it was difficult to know where the direction of the story was going, and the ending felt anticlimactic and not totally resolved. However, I did have so much love for the characters and their trajectories, and would love to have spent more time engaging with their individual and family growth. I appreciated references to Taiwan’s traditions and complex history, and I also loved the character of Kenji as a very very sweet and pivotal character to our story.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, posted on goodreads

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this ARC.

I saw someone say this book is about perimenopause but magical, and honestly, I couldn’t find a better way to describe it. From the very first moment — the first glow of hands — I was drawn into the story. I loved Leeann as a character, because you rarely see characters her age in magical realism books. I also enjoyed how she described her job and following everything she did in general.

The relationships in this book are top tier. The mother-daughter dynamics are shown across three generations, and I adored how imperfect they were. Especially the relationship between Leeann and her mom was fascinating. I bet many people can relate to them, but also to Leeann and her own daughter, Lulu. While there were also great friendships in this book, the one between Parisha and Leeann had my heart! Seeing friendships like this just warms me.
The romance between Leeann and Kenji felt a bit too fast for my liking at first, but after a few chapters I was really invested, and I liked how their story unfolded.

The magical realism aspect — what it really meant and how it connected the characters — was amazing! I adore this subgenre, and it made the whole book so much more interesting. The conclusion was a bit rushed, but overall it was wonderful.

I’m really excited to read more by this author!

The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu explores complicated family dynamics and identity with a touch of magical realism.

The first half took me a while to get into. some parts felt slow, and the pacing dragged a bit. I also personally found the characters frustrating at times, but I think that is part of the book's purpose, which is to show the tensions in generational family relationships. The second half of the book is gripping and turned to a page-turner once the story's surreal elements is shown.

One thing that surprised me was the magical realism in the book. Even after reading the blurb, I wasn't expecting it to be as much of the center of the story as it was? This book wasn't quite my cup of tea, but it's more about personal taste than anything to do with the book's story or writing quality.

If you enjoy literary fiction with magical realism, multicultural characters (women at the forefront) and complex relationships, this could be a great read for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu by Mindy Hung is such a good story... I loved every single second of this incredible book. 5 star read from me. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can.

This book was such a fun read. I loved the characters so much, and even though I have no experience with her motherhood, midwifery, magic, or culture, it still somehow felt so relatable.

There was also a certain degree of intrigue that kept me interested throughout the book without being so stressful or taking over the plot, which focuses on the relationship Leeann has in the book.

I will say, I do wish the romance was built out a little bit more, especially in the beginning. It’s not technically a romance book, but it’s a big enough part of the story that I would’ve liked to see it maybe a little more drawn out in the beginning. I also wish the conflict was built up just a tad more. Without any spoilers, I felt like we came to a resolution without me really knowing fully what had happened beyond the surface level explanation given right before everything.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to see it fully come to life when it comes out!

The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu was one of my most-anticipated reads of the year, and it absolutely wowed me. I've waited forever to see a middle-aged heroine take center stage in a novel that blends the rich world-building of fantasy with the emotional depth of women’s fiction. Watching Leeann juggle her grown-up daughter, thriving midwifery practice, challenging mother, and potential new romance was instantly relatable. Every relationship felt lived in and just so, so real, and every page was beautifully written and perfectly observed. With this book, Mindy Hung instantly positions herself as a major voice in women's fiction.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy. This is a cozy fantasy with only a little bit of tension in the story. I read it quickly but hoped that the characters would be more developed. The romance is gentle rather than steamy. The action is there, but minimal. It reminded me of a hallmark movie.